Francis Adebayo: If politics is a dirty game, Christians should be the detergent to wash the dirt

Pastor Francis Adebayo is the senior Pastor of Harvest Place Church, Maryland Lagos. He is a native of Abeokuta Ogun State and a graduate of Federal University of Technology Akure. He read Agriculture, wood and forestry management. In this interview Collins Nkwocha, Adebayo shares his ministry experience

When exactly did you come to know the Lord and how?
I got born again when I was in secondary school. There was a great move of God in schools that year and I was one of those that got captured by the move. It was in 1989 precisely. It was a Sunday evening, I was in secondary school then, as I said earlier. I was watching full Gospel Business Men Fellowship on the television. The man of God was preaching about Jesus, I got touched by the message and when he talked about accepting Jesus, I found myself on my knees and that was exactly how I accepted Christ.
The next day was a Monday, there was a church by the side of my school, it happened to be the church of Bishop Wale Oke. I knew they hold services every Monday. I went there on my own to fellowship. That was how I started. Even in my university days at Federal University of Akure (FUTA), I established a fellowship and was really on fire for Christ, winning souls for his kingdom.
What is the exact mandate of your ministry?
We are committed to raising leaders that will champion the course of Christianity in these end time, leaders that will be on fire for Christ and win souls for the kingdom of God. I have a pastoral and evangelistic calling. We hold open air crusades, we try to reach the unreached. We take the gospel of Christ to the ordinary man on the street and make him realize how much Jesus loves him. Basically, we raise leader in all spheres of life, even in politics.
What are the challenged you have faced or you are facing in the course of doing this work?
Yes challenges surface in all endeavours of life. But my major challenge in ministry has been human challenge, dealing with people with different character, attitude and orientation. At times, they misunderstand you that you are trying to run their lives for them or they feel that you trying to impose yourself on them because you are their pastor. The most difficult people to lead, are human beings. People you see in church come from different backgrounds with different orientation. It takes the grace of God to lead people, trying to reform people’s crude attitude and being misunderstood in the process is a major challenge. Financially, God has been faithfully, He has given me the empowerment to run this ministry; he has really been faithful.
As a servant of God, can you take part in politics?
Yes, I am already a politician, I contested for Lagos State House of Assembly in 2015 Election. People keep saying that politics is a dirty game, then as Christians and servants of God, let us be the detergent that will wash off the dirt. We should be involved in the politics of this country if we really want things to be good. Since independence, we have being ruled by the same set of leaders. We need people that will come and give the desired change, only a God fearing person can do that. Christians must not run away from politics, let us come together and move this nation forward, we are the only ones that can do it; others have failed.
What is the lasting solution to the menace of killings in the country?
I see it as a leadership and political problem, if our leaders are ready to deal with the problem, they will. One small group should not be a nightmare to the entire nation. This entire thing lingered because you can discern some political interest. I repeat again that the solutions is in the hands of our government.
What advice do you have for Christians in these perilous days? You most know that one of the greatest weapon of the Devil is distraction. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted because the Devil who is our adversary does not sleep.

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About Gbenga Osinaike

Gbenga Osinaike is a 1992 graduate of Dramatic Arts from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He specialised in Play-writing. He also holds a Master of Arts Degree from the University of Lagos. He was Assistant Editor in Punch Newspapers from where he resigned having worked for 13 years to start Church Times Nigeria in March 2007. He is currently the Nigeria representative of US based Institute of Global Church Studies and also the Publicity Secretary of the Lagos, Nigeria Chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. He is married and blessed with two children.